The present invention relates generally to improvements in internal combustion engines and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to four cycle internal combustion engines.
In my co-pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 537,934 entitled CONSTANT DISPLACEMENT TURBINE WITH VANE WHICH PIVOTS AND ROTATES, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference, I have disclosed a turbine in which vanes are pivotally mounted on a rotating vane support ring within a housing and sealing surfaces are formed on edges of the vane in contact with the interior of the housing so that the vanes define two chambers within the housing. Drive shafts are pivotally attached to the vanes and extend through drive shaft apertures formed through the housing to coordinate the pivotation of the vanes with the rotation of the vane support ring so that the two chambers increase and decrease in volume as the vane support ring rotates within the housing. Inlet and outlet ports are formed through the housing so that a pressurized gas may be injected into the inlet port, to enter the chamber currently having a low volume, while gases are exhausted from the other chamber, currently having a high volume, via the outlet port. By this means, the invention described in my aforementioned United States patent application provides a turbine having all of the advantages of turbines over other types of engines while eliminating a basic disadvantage of the turbine; that is, a lack of closed combustion chambers normally found in a turbine.
While the invention described in my co-pending United States patent application referred to above thus provides a major advance in the art of heat engines, it is still recognized that there are circumstances in which a conventional four cycle engine is advantageous. The present invention extends the teachings of my above-referenced United States patent application to provide a four cycle engine that includes many of the advantages provided by the turbine taught in such application.